It's cliché, but the older I've gotten, the more meaning that phrase has had in my life.

I've been blessed in my career to have worked at this newspaper, the oldest continuous daily in this nation, for almost 20 years, covering the news of the day and learning from some of the finest editors, journalists and newspaper minds in the business.

I crave knowledge.

So you can imagine the fun I'm having acting as a sponge in this fitness journey, which has taken me to several locations in Kingston and beyond to try my hand at many different activities/workouts.

My craving for knowledge was very much satisfied this past week when I was invited by longtime trainer and elite athlete Randy Zabukovec, who owns Focus Personal Fitness Studio.

Randy invited me to come for a personal training session at his studio in the beautiful Woolen Mill. For the record, Focus's studio is the most aesthetically pleasing fitness facility I've ever set foot in. Exposed stone walls, beautiful change rooms, complete with showers and towel service, and perfect workout lighting are topped with a complimentary piece of fruit on your way out. Talented massage therapists Kurtis Marlow (whom I've personally seen several times over the years) and Chelsea Bovey are also located inside Focus, completing the total package experience.

Randy, a longtime St. Lawrence College instructor, coach and triathlete, knows a thing or two about fitness. Understatement of the year. You can imagine my excitement at soaking in some of his knowledge. Before our workout officially got underway, Randy had me warm up on the treadmill, where he stood beside me, quizzed me on many things and we covered a lot of ground.

In those 15 minutes, Randy answered every question I could throw his way, explained his own philosophies on fitness, the importance of some form of cardiovascular exercise for 30 minutes every single day and dazzled me with a ton of information about proper eating habits, training regimens and what time certain foods are ideal for our bodies.

Honestly, as I listened, I was marvelling at the prospect of what was just ahead in this workout.

Following our chat while I warmed up, we moved onto a mobility warmup, which included a march, straight leg kick, leg curl, side lunge and monster walk. Randy explained as we went through the warmup that what we were doing was producing the same results as stretching to warm up, but done while on the move. A few extra calories burned along the way.

The feeling-out period came to end, I was warm and the real work was about to begin. Oh, boy, was it.

We started with four sets of deadlifts. Randy put the weights on the bar, then demonstrated both good form and poor for me. This, he explained, mimicked everyday lifting. Now, let me tell you, the lifting done in journalism does not involve a bar or weight, but rather raw copy, tough headlines and some oddly written cutlines. The dead in newspapers is deadlines. So this was not your everyday lifting for me.

The first set went pretty well. My form, surprisingly, was good, Randy said.

Round 2 was decidedly more difficult. By my final deadlift, my lungs were very clearly displaying just how alive they were. Round 3 made Round 2 look like a walk in the park. I was gassed. I reached for my water bottle, gasped to recapture my breath and prepared for the final round.

You know when you have just overeaten a giant meal, complete with dessert, and you look at that last bite and ponder forking it in before your body goes full rejection mode on you and you push the plate away in disgust at what you'd just done?

That's how I looked at the last set of deadlifts. I laboured through it. I was gasping for breath. Lest anyone tell you otherwise, a deadlift is as close to the full-body workout experience as you can get. Tough, tough work.

Next up were single-arm chest presses using dumbbells. We started with a lighter weight, which I breezed through. Sensing my mastery, Randy not only added some weight, he added some difficulty. (It's when I learn things like the following that I can incorporate into my workouts that I truly am most satisfied). He asked me to elevate the opposite leg of the arm I was lifting with. I was to hold the leg while pushing out the set. We increased stability while engaging core muscles during the exercise. It was decidedly more difficult. But, with a simple addition, we burned more calories. Again.

We moved from there to the Cook bar squat row. The reason for this was due to my explaining to Randy my history with a very stubborn and chronic herniated disc in my mid-back. Three or four times in the last five years, I've herniated the disc, which has caused me excruciating and immobilizing pain. Usually, it's doing the most mundane of things when I reinjure it. Once, I was throwing something in the garbage. Once, I was looking for something under a chair. Very frustrating.

In order to help strengthen that part of my back, Randy had me do the Cook bar squat row. I was holding a bar, rowing it toward myself, using proper form and targeting the desired area. To kick things up a notch, Randy asked my to do so in a seated squatting position. Let me tell you, you're not worrying about the difficulty of the form or the exercise when your legs are on fire from the seated squat position. Four-alarm fire, folks.

After completing four sets of those, my legs were begging for mercy. Their prayers went unanswered as Randy introduced me to the true form run, or as we jokingly call it now, the Hart Foundation Death Chamber. We call it that because when Randy introduced me to this device, which is effectively a curved treadmill that operates solely off its users power and ability, no electronics required -- it reminded me of a photo I took while in the garage of legendary pro wrestler Jim (The Anvil) Neidhart this summer. While there, I noticed an ancient looking treadmill that was old school, just a belt on wheels with a handlebar and a strap one could use around their waist. That treadmill was in fact the one and only from the iconic and so-called Hart dungeon, where scores of legendary pro wrestlers were training in Calgary under the tutelage of the late Stu Hart. I showed Randy the photo and we both marvelled over it.

But I digress.

I climbed aboard and spent a couple of minutes just trying to get the darn thing to go. It takes near-perfect form to work this device, but once running, the impact on your feet and knees is nowhere near as hard as on a traditional treadmill. Impressive. I joked that I might be the first to smash my face off the front bar as I battled stability and co-ordination to get it going. Eventually, I won.

If you've never tried one of these, add it to your to-do list. Very impressive.

We finished off the day by attacking my core. We did straight planks on our elbows, followed by a set of pushup planks and finished with the core ravaging resisted band planks. Yep. You put a resistance band around your lower back, which is akin to adding a weight to your back, while you plank. Another one I'll be adding to the arsenal permanently going forward.

Much like we started, we finished with some stretching. Straight leg stretch, knees to chest and a thoracic spine foam roller stretch. Every time I'm asked to reach up and pull my knees to my chest, and my belly gets in the way, I am reminded why I am doing this.

Thanks to sharing some time around elite athletes and mentors like Randy, I'm on my way.

My day ended with a shower in that delightful change room, complete with free soap, shampoo and a towel.